Up to date AA recommendations....

So, I was looking over AA's and was provided a recommendation list in another thread. I was very much surprised to see SCF in the recommended list, along with several other items that I would have historically thought as being a no-no from a typical cleric point of view.

Now, that said, SCF did make some degree of sense to me since clerics can now solo (with a merc), but it got me looking over things in general. Can anyone point me to a fairly recent write up of recommended AA's? I'm sitting just under 80, have a couple banked, and have a few spent in places I really wish they weren't, but I'm curious what the latest thinking is of where to spend points.

Among some of the things I'm trying to balance out (keep in mind that, for now, I'm mostly solo'ing) include:

When to address mana regen.... I have MC3, which was a huge thing back in the day, but seems lower percentage at this point (still good, just not *as* good). The one that raises the gear cap seems like it might also be worthwhile, but it has the same value on a "per AA spent" basis as MC does (both are going to get me only 1 mana per tick, so whichever costs the least AA is the best in the short term).
Whether to prioritize mana preservation. Again, I'm largely solo, so the more I preserve the longer I can go without long med periods.
What's going to gain me the fastest kills? Once again, the solo thing.

I've seen the one website with every AA analyzed, and that will probably be the basis for most of what I do, but I'd love to see something that is modern expansion aware that addresses priorities a bit better.

im with you on this one sing. Im trying to work out how to spend my AA's atm since im sitting kinda low at 259 right now with about 10 banked and i have no idea how to spend them. And just like you im in the same boat in that i solo pretty much everything (or duo with my merc) and trying to figure out hte best places to spend those AA's is so differant now then it was before so anyone able provide some insight would be greatly appreciated

The one thing with spell casting fury, getting rank 2 allows both your nukes, your spell cast hammers, your meleeing to crit for full health. So whichever guide you were looking at may have been talking about that.

It tends to be a lot easier if someone has a magelo created to make suggestions, also because we can then see the items worn, clickies someone might have in their bags, which AA's are already purchased, haste level, mod 2 levels on gear, which can factor into some of the suggestions.

Hi Crystilla (always the most helpful person left on these boards...),

I finally reactivated Magelo for my toons, so my sig now had the link to the stuff you asked about. I have, of course, added quite a few AA (and a level or two I believe) since the original post. I held at 73 and added a bunch, and have just started back to regular XP for at least a level or two.

Just took a quick peek at your AA's and here's some potential suggestions. Note, some of these may not yet be available to you at level 73, but should help a little bit.

Can you give a little info on how you are soloing? Are you root dotting undead, are you tanking face/to/face, are you grouped with one other and more nuking or meleeing but not the tank, etc.

For mana pres, when they both give the same benefit, definitely go with the lower cost. Looking at your magelo right now, you show 36/15 (general tab, mana+ score). Which means you're only getting benefit out of 15 of the 36 you're wearing basically.
- Mental clarity 5 = 5 AA (works regardless of what gear you have) - Expansive mind 5 = 5 AA (only works if you are over the cap already; if you aren't over the cap, this just raises the cap and is unused).
Since right now you're over the cap with 36/15, either of these AA's are useful for you.

Secondary forte allows you the ability to get additional mana preservation on a 2nd specialization. Most clerics are alteration (for heals) on their primary specialization. I believe most follow abjuration (for buffs) as their secondary but there are some more DPS specialists who use evocation for their secondary specialization.
- Ward of ( ) proc ds and vow of ( ) line are both alteration so that's covered.
- So it's really up to you whether you want it in buffs (abjuration) or nukes (evocation). But this will save you mana pres with each cast.

Spell casting reinforcement mastery - you want this! Anything you do with a timer (buffs, elixers, yalup, self procs on you) they almost all get extended by having this line maxxed out. Adds 50% to the original timer when the line is completed. Can be another time/mana saver.

Mastery of the past 1 - may sound strange but spending the 3 AA can be useful (no more gate fizzing, or if you do pull out the 'complete heal' that can't fizzle either

Healing boon - this works on your elixer spell, vow of valor's heal proc, the mana free celestial regeneration AA, the mana free focused celestial regeneration AA and any other elixer/over time type heal proc or ability we can get. So if you use these type of abilities often, they can not only crit for your heals but also adds the side effect of mana savings if you don't then have to follow up with a direct heal.

Gift of mana line - is pure mana preservation savings (when it triggers, next spell you cast in that level range is 1 mana cost only). Problem with that gets for new folks who have to level it up and may have multiple (5-level) spells up. But you can get around that with audio triggers if desired, along with other ways.

Cascade of life - this AA allows you a chance to give an extra heal to whoever you're healing (I mention it only because if you're doing a lot of direct heals on yourself, this is another 'mana pres' way as it can alleviate some of the healing you have to d

Celestial regeneration - this is a group mana free elixer over time, 15 minute recast (before reuse reduction aa's)

Focused celestial regeneration - this is a single target mana free elixer over time, is on a different timer than celestial regeneration though the two do not stack with each other

Recourse of life - this AA gives you the chance to cast a mana free group elixer every time you stun a mob (you can stun them via stun spell or bash or even just straight up melee without hitting bash)

Divine avatar - if you melee (tanking or other), this boosts your melee ability significantly with the higher ranks.

~ There's a lot of good AA's out there, keeping up with the combat agility/stability and natural durability line along with Planar Power especially will also help as PP raises all of your abilities at one time so gets a lot of bang for the buck initially (as your AC will raise, hp, mana, and other areas - for the cap specifically so if you have gear with the levels on them but can't use it, once you keep getting PP, you'll see those increases up to the point where your gear catches up with the max cap.

1) There's no right/wrong way anymore.
2) Work areas that you need. If you aren't suffering on mana preservation at all, why focus on mental clarity and expansive mind. If you want to do mana pres related items, do the broader ones that affect other things like gift of mana, secondary forte, etc.

3) Make a plan for a short period of time and don't be afraid to modify it if it turns out you end up needing to work different AA's. (Some folks build this plan and think they have to stick with it).

I haven't been on live in almost a year, am playing on an EQ emulator server now which is A LOT of fun DD

Although, I find it hard to believe that there can really be any like small amount of CORE aa's for a cleric..there are some that are almost impossible to live w/o like DVA .. but other than that.. I could think of probably a 1000+ aa's worth of stuff I'd say is CORE to a cleric .. its a bit excessive now

I actually find one of the best resources for useful AA recommendations is guild recruiting forums. Typically these lists are geared more towards maximum healing & survivability, but they're typically compiled by enthusiastic cleric mains.

Really, what you want to buy depends a lot on how you plan on advancing your toon. I recommend SCF for soloing for sure, even if you just get the first couple of levels. I also recommend Divine Avatar. Of course this assumes you've got your basics down (SCM, Divine Arb, CA/CS, Gift & Adept, ect.)

If you find you run OOM a lot, then MC and expansive mind, though expensive, will help you out a lot. I know its hard to justify 5 aa for 1 mana regen, but remember it applies even when you're standing and in combat.

Sorry if i repeated any points others gave & hope you're having fun getting those aa all locked down!

I have, by and large, decided that it's much too complex and I have too many different ways I'd like to go to worry about it all that much. AA's are so easy these days (relative to what I was used to before I left the game) that there's only so much stress it's worth of. So, with that said, I've tended to be perhaps a little more random than I probably should be. There are several things I want, and so I tend to address it by whim. If I'm doing something where the AA's are really cranking and I'm thinking I might be able to get 10 or more in a night, then I'll save them all and get something expensive out of the way. If I'm just picking up an AA here, and an AA there while questing (often in zones with just light blues), then I'll tend to focus on cheap stuff so I feel the gratification of getting something regularly.

I'm about 20% from 75, after which I think I'm going to hold for a bit to stay even with some friends, and AA again. SCM Reinforcement was on my list already. I chose Innate Enlightenment over Planar Power to start, as it raises the WIS cap by 10 for 3 AA (instead of 4AA with PP, though PP does raise other stats). I think based on Cyrstilla's comments that I will do at least SCF 2 (I have 1 already).

As for how I solo: I have, for now, reactivated my Bard's account too, so I'm not a true solo at this point. When I run both accounts, I've been using Dak's tank merc, the bard, and the bard's Cleric merc. I let the cleric merc do all the healing, and Dak generally nukes (almost all Reproval at this point). I'm not familiar enough with the newer zones to pick out good undead zones, but the reality is that my spell gaps keep the undeads from being all that preferable anyway. Most of my recent leveling was done in Burning Sea since that is where the hot zone is and where tasks are issued for. I haven't felt comfortable trying to solo in Thal as yet - even though the xp is much better - as my mercs are still Tier 1. The tank merc is good enough at holding aggro that my defensives haven't been critical to me, though they are still pretty darn important. I'm planning on taking CS and CA to level 8 (currently at CA3 and CS2). I'm sure I'll take them to the full 33 someday, but what I've heard indicates diminishing returns beyond 8 or so.

As to MC, it is obviously also important, but while solo'ing, I can just break for a minute or so and use the super med to get me back to full. It is VERY rare for me to run out of mana on a fight unless I'm in an indoor zone and forget to sit (particularly between fights). I do, however, need to address it somewhat, as I can run out of mana on long fights while grouped with friends.